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I Ain't Got Nobody
"I Ain't Got Nobody" (sometimes referred to as "I'm So Sad and Lonely") is a popular song copyrighted in 1915. Roger A. Graham (1885–1938) wrote the lyrics, Spencer Williams composed it, and Roger Graham Music Publishing published it. It became a perennial standard, recorded many times over following generations, in styles ranging from pop to jazz to country music. The 2008 film Be Kind Rewind uses the version recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, although two covers were recorded for the film as well: a piano solo version by Jean-Michel Bernard, and a Fats Waller-esque version by Mos Def. Attribution Chicago and Saint Louis ragtime pianist and blues composer Charles Warfield (1878–1955) claimed to have originally written the song and a copyright dated April 1914 attributes Warfield as the composer, David Young as the lyricist, and Marie Lucas as the arranger. The title of the song is given as "I Ain't Got Nobody and Nobody Cares for Me". Williams's copyright entry from 1916 under a shorter title attributes the composition to Davy Peyton and himself and the lyrics to publisher Roger Graham. In 1916, Frank K. Root & Co., a Chicago publisher (né Frank Kimball Root; 1856–1932), acquired the Craig & Co. copyright, and, later that year, also acquired the Warfield-Young copyright. Clarence E. Brandon, Sr. and Billy Smythe, both St. Louis musicians, both claim that they wrote the first version, words and music, of "I Ain't Got Nobody", filed two copyrights 1911, and published it that same year. "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley "I Ain't Got Nobody" is best known in a form first recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "Just a Gigolo". Prima started pairing the songs in 1945 and the idea was revisited in the popular arrangement in a new, jive-and-jumping style, created by Sam Butera for Prima's 1950s Las Vegas stage show. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with Capitol Records, which aimed to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled The Wildest! and released in January 1957, opened with "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", which then became Prima's signature number and helped relaunch his career. The Village People recorded a disco version of the "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley for their 1978 album Macho Man. Although the two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, further popularized by David Lee Roth on his 1985 EP Crazy From The Heat, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition. In 2017, the Spanish band De Morao Swing Tablao released a version of this song by double pairing it with the popular Spanish song, "María de la O". Copyrights Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Musical Compositions * "I Ain't Got Nobody" Words by David Young, music by Charles Warfield Copyrighted as an unpublished work 8 April 1914 by David Young * New Series, Vol. 10, Part 1, 1st half of 1915, Nos. 1–7, pg. 87 "Ain't Got Nobody Much" Words and music by D. Peyton & S. Williams Copyrighted as an unpublished work 28 January 1915 by David Peyton & Spencer Williams, Chicago (1432) * New Series, Vol. 10, Part 1, 1st half of 1916, Nos. 1–7, pg. 179 "I Ain't Got Nobody" Words by [[Roger A. Graham], music by Spencer Williams & Dave Peyton Copyrighted 7 February 1916, copyrighted again 21 February 1916 by Craig & Co., Chicago (E377653)] † * New Series, Vol. 37, Part 1, 1st half of 1942, Nos. 1–6, pg. 675 "I Ain't Got Nobody and Nobody Care for Me" Music by Charles Warfield, arrangement by Marie Lucas Copyright renewed 30 March 1942 by David Young, Chicago (R 106287) * Volume 4, Part 5A, No. 1, 1st half of 1950 "I Ain't Got Nobody" Words by Roger A. Graham, music by Spencer Williams, arrangement, arrangement by Bill Howard Copyrighted 15 June 1950 by Mayfair Music Corp., New York (EP47548) :† Copyright deposit copies are professional editions See also * List of pre-1920 jazz standards References Baby Won't You Please Come Home, editor-in-chief: Sandra Burlingame, Portland, Oregon: jazzStandards.com, LLC (publisher) . Retrieved 2009-06-14.; For Me and My Gal and Other Favorite Song Hits, 1915-1917, by David A. Jasen, Dover Publications (1994); Blackface. Au confluent des voix mortes (Blackface: Where Dead Voices Gather), by Nick Tosches, Jonathan Cape (publisher) (2002), pg. 149; ; Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880–1930, David A Jasen, Gene Jones, Schirmer Books (1998), pg. 170; The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk, by James J. Fuld (1916-2008), Toronto: General Publishing Company, Ltd. (2000) pg. 284 The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, by James Terry White, New York: James T. White Company, Vol. 17 (1920), pg. 42 }} External links * * - Jazzmania Quintet, with Georgie Stoll on Stroh violin, playing I Ain't Got Nobody Category:1915 songs Category:1910s jazz standards Category:Bessie Smith songs Category:Sophie Tucker songs Category:Songs written by Spencer Williams Category:Cab Calloway songs Category:Village People songs